20 septembre 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
What are the regional reactions to the new US-UK-Australia security pact?
Japan, Indonesia and Singapore weigh in on the AUKUS agreement.
7 décembre 2020 | International, Naval
Norfolk Naval Shipyard can go ahead with power and steam plant, state air quality regulators say
By DAVE RESS
DAILY PRESS |
DEC 04, 2020 AT 5:14 PM
Norfolk Naval Shipyard can proceed with plans to build a plant to supply the steam and most of the electricity it uses, the State Air Pollution Control Board ruled.
The board found that the new facility would not boost pollutants — including sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide — above air-quality standards.
Its staff analyses also found increased emissions of those chemicals would not be significant, although the board staff did note that increases in very small particulate matter would be significant.
The shipyard wants to install two natural gas-powered turbines, each capable of generating 7 megawatts of electricity, as well as a boilers, heat-recovery generators and one 2.4 megwatt steam turbine.
The $30 million project would allow the yard to generate its own steam, instead of purchasing it from the nearby Wheelabrator plant. The plant also would supply most of the electricity the yard now receives from Dominion Energy.
James Boyd, president of the Portsmouth branch of the NAACP, said the project would add pollutants to the already bad air, raising serious environmental justice concerns.
In a letter to the board, he also said forecasts of emissions miscalculated totals, by reporting pollutant totals from one gas turbine and one burner from the steam generator, instead of calculating the total of all the turbines were operating.
University of Richmond geography professor Mary Finley-Brook noted that the shipyard is a Superfund site, which means its neighbors are more vulnerable to harm from emissions.
Finley-Brook said the assessment of impact on community health was inadequate.
A study for the board by two Massachusetts-based PhD toxicologists said air currently is safe and new plant would not change that, while board staff said air quality in the area had improved over the past 20 years.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation executive director Peggy Sanner said she is disappointed that the board did not require monitoring and reporting of actual emissions from the plant, once it is operating, in 2022.
“There are serious environmental justice concerns around building a new fossil fuel plant in this predominantly African-American community, which is overwhelmed by health risks from industrial pollution, she said, adding " Portsmouth residents already live near high concentrations of toxic waste at the nine Superfund sites within a 15-mile radius.”
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27 avril 2018 | International, Aérospatial
Thales et trois groupes comptent équiper le future drone MALE
PARIS (Reuters) - Quatre groupes européens, dont le français Thales, ont annoncé mardi leur intention de coopérer pour doter le futur drone de surveillance européen de fonctions avancées de traitement de données et de communications. L'italien Elettronica, l'allemand Hensoldt, l'espagnol Indra et Thales précisent dans un communiqué commun avoir signé un protocole d'accord pour fournir des fonctions de renseignement, de surveillance, d'acquisitions de cibles et de reconnaissances (Istar) au futur drone en préparation par leurs quatre pays. "L'équipe est ouverte à la coopération avec d'autres entreprises", soulignent les quatre groupes. La phase de développement du drone MALE (haute altitude longue endurance) devrait démarrer en 2019. Airbus Defense and Space, Dassault Aviation (premier actionnaire industriel de Thales) et l'italien Leonardo avaient signé le contrat d'étude de définition en août 2016. Thales apportera son expertise dans les systèmes de missions de défense en se basant sur les technologies de connectivité, de big data (traitement massif de données), d'intelligence artificielle et de cybersécurité, fait valoir Patrice Caine, PDG du groupe français, cité dans le communiqué. (Cyril Altmeyer, édité par Matthieu Protard) https://www.capital.fr/entreprises-marches/thales-et-trois-groupes-comptent-equiper-le-futur-drone-male-1284701
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4 septembre 2018 | International, C4ISR
Five Eyes Intel Alliance Urges Big Tech to Help Break Encrypted Messages
By Joseph Marks The U.S. and four major allies warn new legislation might be necessary to ensure law enforcement can access communications. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen joined leaders of the U.S.'s four major intelligence sharing partners Thursday in a statement urging tech companies to help law enforcement access otherwise-encrypted communications from criminals and terrorists. The joint statement stopped short of urging new laws to mandate that cooperation but warned that “should governments continue to encounter impediments to lawful access to information necessary to aid the protection of the citizens of our countries, we may pursue technological, enforcement, legislative or other measures to achieve lawful access solutions.” The statement from the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, collectively known as the Five Eyes, describes law enforcement's inability to access encrypted communications as “a pressing international concern that requires urgent, sustained attention.” While “governments should recognize that the nature of encryption is such that there will be situations where access to information is not possible,” the statement notes, “such situations should be rare.” Obama and Trump administration officials have warned since 2014 that end-to-end encryption systems, which shield the content of communications even from the communications provider, are allowing criminals and terrorists to plan operations outside law enforcement's reach. Legislative proposals that would make it easier for police to access those communications have failed to gain traction, however, even after a 2015 showdown between the FBI and Apple over an encrypted iPhone used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook. An inspector general's investigation in March found the FBI rushed to court in that case, seeking to compel Apple's assistance without exploring other options for cracking into the phone. Thursday's statement notes that: “Providers of information and communications technology and services ... are subject to the law, which can include requirements to assist authorities to lawfully access data, including the content of communications.” The statement does not go into detail, however, about what laws would justify those requirements and how they should be interpreted. The San Bernardino case was never decided in court because an unknown third party sold the FBI a method for breaking through the phone's passcode and accessing its encrypted contents. U.S. tech companies, for the most part, have resisted calls to cooperate with law enforcement. They argue that any effort to weaken encryption would be found and exploited by criminal hackers or foreign spies. Technologists, civil libertarians and many members of Congress have urged police to use other methods to break through encrypted communications without forcing companies to help or installing government backdoors into encryption systems. Those methods include obtaining a warrant to hack into the communications and building a case using unencrypted metadata. During the summit, Nielsen and other Five Eyes officials also agreed to strengthen cooperation between their nations' cyber centers and to cooperate on improving the cybersecurity of supply chains for critical infrastructure such as energy plants and airports. https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2018/08/five-eyes-intel-alliance-urges-big-tech-help-break-encrypted-messages/150961/